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Predicting the Lie of Obamacare Succes

Sometime, when the “glitches” with the Affordable Care Act websites are fixed and the system is chugging along dysfunctionally, someone is going to start sharing the number of folks who have signed up for “cheap, affordable” healthcare. Those numbers will tell us that thousands upon thousands of people are signing up and we will be lead to believe that those people were the kinds of folks who used to be shut out of the system because they couldn’t afford care or because they had pre-existing conditions. There will be some truth to those assertions.

And there will be a huge lie, too.

See, with literally hundreds of thousands of people losing their insurance coverage because of the ACA, a huge number of the first wave of folks signing up will very likely be those who had, until recently, been covered. That is, they had already been in the system, they had already had coverage, and they had already entered into a voluntary contractual relationship with insurance companies, paid their money, and had their needs met. Perversely, that voluntary relationship was destroyed by the ACA, which then compels an involuntary relationship with another insurance company. Even better, with the new rules, some of those folks will likely be getting government subsidies on their insurance costs.

Read this from a Kaiser Health News story:

Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies.

The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010.  At least a few are cancelling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Now, let’s say it again: the government will be paying people to break their voluntary contractual relationships in order to compel them into doing what they were already doing.  And those folks will then be held up as examples of how well the system is working. And we will be told that this is more efficient and effective.

[button link=”http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/21/cancellation-notices-health-insurance.aspx” type=”small” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]

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So, What You’re Telling Me…

…is that our “not quite good enough job growth” has  been downgraded to “nowhere near replacement level job growth.”

Well. That sucks.

Between December of 2012 and February of 2013, 699,000 jobs were created; for an average of 233,000. Between March and May of 2013, however, the economy created only 466,000 jobs; for an average of 155,000 jobs.

[button link=”http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/07/Three-Month-Average-of-Job-creation-plummets” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]

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Economic Drift

There was no good to be found in today’s job report. It was a blunt reminder that our nation is continuing to drift through an economy unmoored by continued uncertainty and growing unemployment. The ragged appearance of a drop in unemployment is, of course, a lie; while the economy added some 88,000 jobs, the loss of nearly half a million workers who simply abandoned the idea of finding work.

They gave up hope.

In March, 496,000 people took themselves out of the labor force altogether, meaning they stopped searching for work.

When unemployed people quit looking for jobs it can lower the jobless rate. But for all the wrong reasons. Hiring was weak in March. The 88,000 jobs employers added aren’t even enough to keep up with population growth.

So that March drop in the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent likely has more to do with frustrated job seekers giving up than employers buying into the economic recovery.

It is important to note that this is not new. This is not something that simply happened this month or something as a reaction to recent political events: no, this is the continuation of the bleeding. The job participation rate (which you can also see at the linked article) has been falling with regularity for the last decade and most precipitously over the last five years or so.

No, our problems are deeper than any recent political failures and our current leadership has show precisely no capability of conceiving of a plan to solve those problems.

[button link=”http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/04/05/176344820/the-jobs-report-puzzle” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]

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April Fools

Have you heard the news? President Obama has declared April to be National Financial Capability Month with a key goal of teaching young Americans how to budget responsibly.

Together, we can prepare young people to tackle financial challenges — from learning how to budget responsibly to saving for college, starting a business, or opening a retirement account.

Financial capability also means helping people avoid scams and demand fair treatment when they take out a mortgage, use a credit card, or apply for a student loan. My Administration continues to encourage responsibility at all levels of our financial system by cracking down on deceptive practices and ensuring that consumers are informed of their rights.
The truth is that I don’t even remember when last we had a president who could claim the moral high ground on responsible budgeting, but it’s been long enough that this comes across more as April Fools joke than meaningful presidential guidance.

Politicians, budget thyself.

[button link=”http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/29/presidential-proclamation-national-financial-capability-month-2013″ color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]
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A Focused View of Citizens United

For those who have tended to take a shallow view of the Citizens United case, this is a good opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the legal and philosophical underpinnings of both the majority decision and the dissent, specifically in relation to the concepts of free speech. Published in the Harvard Law Review, I would suggest that it is very even handed in its analysis. Be sure to download and read the linked pdf; the web page is merely introduction.

[button link=”http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/124/november10/Comment_7328.php” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]

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Strategery in Focus

This is an important little piece from Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government blog. It’s compact, but quite important, especially when you understand what the author is critiquing:

If “Setting Priorities” is the most recent attempt to argue for a more coherent internationalist grand strategy — a worthy endeavor — then whatever weaknesses it has might throw into relief some broader problems of U.S. foreign policy.

Why important? Because of this note near the end of the piece:

… the report-like all “national security strategies” published by every administration since Congress mandated the document in 1987-is less a “strategy” document than a list of aspirations and goals.

“Strategic” foreign policy thought, as expressed by our government in the public realm, has long been reduced to talking points, wish lists, and occasional partisan sniping. Now is the time for serious discussion about the proper place of the United States in a changing international landscape of political power. Simply saying that we should show leadership or advocate for some laudable goal isn’t enough. Means, actions, and expected ends along with an honest assessment of what role the US needs to be playing in everything from “democratization” to moderating talks between warring groups.

The United States seems to be suffering a deficit of strong and wise leadership along with a paucity of serious thought in the public realm. While our last presidential election should have revolved around things like our foundering economy and our nebulous foreign policy, it instead seemed to focus on binders full of women, free contraception, and taking gratuitous pot-shots at China. We need better, although I would suggest that our reality-show obsessed culture doesn’t necessarily deserve better. I’ll consider changing that view when we start rewarding serious thought with the same acclaim that we do a bunch of dignity-stripped attention whores and fools on the latest terrifying reality TV series.

[button link=”http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/14/the_pitfalls_of_practicing_strategery” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Read the original.[/button]

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On the Minimum Wage Hike

This little bit of thought from Paul Solman on PBS concerning the proposed minimum wage hike and what effect it might have on welfare. Aside from his answer, he also throws in some statistics about our current employment situation that is like a splash of cold water.

And get this: Social Security disability benefits have become so popular that since June of 2009, when the Great Recession was supposed to have officially ended and economic growth resumed, 4.7 million of us had enrolled in SSDI or SSI programs. By contrast, a mere 2.3 million jobs have been added over that same period.

This is well worth reading.

Read the rest.

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Cute as Dumb Puppy Dogs

Coal

University of North Carolina students are adorable. It’s almost as if they believe they actually understand the complexities of energy policy and production in an industrialized nation that is in the midst of a severe economic downturn.

Students at the press conference called for administrators to respond to the referendum vote by allowing the Beyond Coal campaign to make a presentation at the Board of Trustees meeting in March.

Alanna Davis, representative of UNC’s chapter of the N.C. Student Power Union, spoke at the event.

She emphasized the need for demanding greater responsibility in managing the endowment, as well as the need for changing the current power structure to give students a stronger voice.

Davis urged administrators to see that divesting from coal is imperative to the future success of the University and the world.

“Leave your flawed neoliberal ideology behind — break up with the coal industry,” she said. “Join us in creating a brighter, healthier future for all.”

It’s also cute how they string words together imagining that their little political pronouncements might be mistaken for meaningful insight.

File this under “disdain.”

Read the rest.